“No,” I told her. “I’ve compelled them to leave, but Camelia’s smart. It won’t be long until she realizes what I’ve done and sends more vampires to find us—this time with wormwood to make sure I can’t compel them. We need to get out of here while we still can.”
“Are you serious?” She tried to pull out of my grip, but given the differences in our strength, her attempt was futile. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I don’t want any part of it.”
“I’m not playing a game.” I took a deep breath, trying to be as patient as possible. “I’m on your side here.”
“You seriously expect me to believe you?” she asked. “You—a vampire prince who pretended to be a human so he could use me for his own amusement? I can’t believe I actually fell for it. I feel like such an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot,” I said quickly. “And it wasn’t like that—not at all.”
“Really?” She narrowed her eyes. “So tell me, Your Highness. What was it like?”
“It’s a long story,” I told her. “And I’ll tell you all of it—once we’re out of here.”
She held her gaze stubbornly with mine. “You better tell me some of it, or I’m not going anywhere with you.”
I chucked, because given the differences in our strength, did she really think she had a choice?
I hated thinking that, because she deserved a choice. But if I left her here it wouldn’t be long until Camelia found her again and took her to the palace.
Once she was in the palace, she was as good as dead.
“A little over a year ago, I was turned into a vampire against my will,” I said quickly. “I’ve lived in the palace since then—I know what happens to the humans who are brought there. And I will not let that happen to you. So come with me. Please. I’ll do everything I can to bring you to safety.”
For a moment, fear crossed over her face, and I was grateful that she realized how much was at stake here. But a second later, her expression switched back to hard resolve and firm determination.
She might be a human and I a vampire, but I swear her mind was just as strong as mine—if not stronger.
“Why did you lie to me?” she finally asked. “About who you are.”
“Like I said, I was turned into a vampire against my will,” I repeated. “Last night, all I wanted was to feel normal. To feel human. That was all it was supposed to be—one night. I never expected to meet you, or for us to spend hours together and have the connection we did. More than anything, I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Is that why you came to talk to me today?” she asked. “To tell me the truth?”
I wanted to lie to her—to say yes. But I couldn’t. Not after already having lied so much.
“No,” I said. “I came because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I may have lied about who I am—about what I am—but my feelings for you are real. So please, Annika—come with me. Let me save your life.”
Annika
I had no reason to trust him. Not after he’d lied about so much.
How had everything changed so fast?
Mike was dead. Jake—Jacen—was a vampire prince. Camelia had sent vampire guards to bring me to the palace. Tanya had told them where I was without even trying to protect me.
It was too much to take in at once.
But I knew one thing for sure—those vampire guards would be back. As a human, I was powerless to stop them. They would drag me to the palace and do who knows what to me. I would likely end up dead.
And here was Jacen, offering to save my life.
The strangest thing was, despite his lying to me, I did trust him. At least with this. After all, he could have killed me in this alley. He could have tasted my blood. Instead, he’d kissed me. I’d kissed him back.
Part of my mind knew that spending a few hours talking with him last night and kissing him today wasn’t enough to earn trust—especially after he’d lied about so much.
But if I didn’t trust him now, I was as good as dead.
“Fine,” I said, since I was out of any other feasible option. “Let’s go.”
He nodded, and moving so quickly that he was a blur, picked me up and placed me on his back. “Hold on tight,” he said, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Tighter,” he instructed. “You won’t hurt me.”
“Have you ever done this before?” I asked.
“I’ve seen it done,” he said simply. “Now, you might want to close your eyes.”
The next thing I knew, he was zipping through the back streets of the village, zigzagging to avoid crashing into the occasional human in the path. The wind whipped across my face with so much force that tears streamed from my eyes. The speed reminded me of when I went on a vacation with my family to St. Kitts and my brother and I went on a banana boat ride behind a speedboat. Grant kept telling the driver to go faster and faster, until it got so difficult to hold on that we both went flying off.
Luckily, Jacen ran a lot steadier than that, so it wasn’t nearly as difficult to hold on. But more unnerving than the speed was knowing that if a human were running this fast, they surely would have crashed into something by now.
Apparently, vampires had much better reflexes than humans could ever imagine.
Soon enough, we were out of the village and tearing through the wilderness. We were higher up in the mountains now—so high that the ground was covered in snow.
There was only one other time I’d ventured this far out of the village—when I’d tried to escape and had gotten attacked by that wolf.
“Wait,” I said, barely able to catch my breath as the wind whipped past me.
He slowed down to a stop, the snow skidding under his feet. “What?” he asked.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re leaving,” he said quickly, angling his head so his cheek brushed mine. “We have to get you out of here. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”
“Leaving the Vale?” I asked, unsure if I’d understood correctly. Because we couldn’t just leave the Vale.
Could we?
“Yes.” He turned back around, but before he could continue running, I untangled myself from his neck and jumped down to stand. My legs shook when I landed—apparently I’d been holding on to him tighter than I’d realized.
“What are you doing?” He turned to me, irritation crossing his face.
“We can’t just leave,” I pointed out.
“I thought that was what you wanted?” He expression shifted from irritation to confusion. “Freedom from life as a blood slave?”
“Yes,” I said, although we both knew that wasn’t all I wanted—I would never be safe from the vampires as long as I remained human. “But what about the wolves?”
“I’m a vampire prince.” He brushed away my question. “The wolves won’t attack me. Or you, if I ask them not to.”
“Okay,” I said, although given the fact that the wolves had been breaking into the Vale and attacking humans, I doubted the relationship between the vampires and wolves was as solid as he was making it out to be. “But let’s say we do make it past the wolves. It’s winter in Canada. I’ll freeze to death before we make it to the nearest town—wherever that might be.” I motioned to the flimsy clothes I was wearing—jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt—to prove my point. The temperature in the Vale was regulated by the witch—by Camelia. Once we left, we would enter the full onslaught of the Canadian winter.
“Good point,” he said, his eyes roaming over my thin clothing. Then he took a deep breath and lifted his wrist to his mouth, puncturing his skin with his fangs. “Here,” he said, holding his bleeding wrist out to me. “Drink.”
“What?” I widened my eyes and stepped back. “You’re turning me into a vampire? What about everything you told me about the transition—how not everyone lives? And how any vampire turned illegally is killed?”
“Drinking my blood won’t turn you into a vampire.” He chuckled, his eyes dark. “The process is a bit more complicated than that.”